20 years and 17 days ago, Dayna and I met for the first time. Today, we celebrate 20 years of marriage and I thank Jesus every day for the blessing she is in my life. It is ONLY through a foundation based on Jesus that we met, were married, and are happily married 20 years later.

It’s crazy to think we met, were engaged after 13 days, were married after 17 days, had our first daughter 10 months later, lived in 4 states in our first 8 years of marriage, and today we celebrate 20 years of marriage.

How did the first meeting happen?

Our mothers bumped into each other at Western State hospital and exchanged addresses for their kids. As you can see in the photo, Dayna wrote me an introductory letter on February 17th, 1993 while I was a senior at the US Coast Guard Academy. I wrote a return letter on 13 April and we later found it behind her dresser after it fell there before she ever had the chance to read it.

Dayna’s letter to Matt

Matt’s letter to Dayna

I graduated in May and then headed home to Washington. I was bored since all my buddies had already graduated and were working and I had time before I reported to my first ship. I decided to call up Dayna to see if she wanted to go to lunch. 13 days later we were engaged, at a local Mexican restaurant, and 17 days after meeting we were married in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

With Jesus at the center, ALL things are possible

I never felt apprehensive about the quick marriage because we both had Jesus at the center of our lives and He gave us both assurance that this marriage was meant to be. We have lived in four states, had daughters in three of those, and vacationed around the world.

Marriage is not easy, but Dayna and I made a commitment to stay together for life and we mean it. There have been ups and downs, mostly ups, and I couldn’t ask for a more blessed life and wife.

Couple in love

My wife makes me a better husband, father, and man

I have doubted my abilities over the years, in grad school at Berkeley, working on salvage cases, and performing calculations for unique projects, but Dayna has always been there supporting me and giving me the confidence to succeed. I couldn’t be the success I am without her and the blessings of the Lord.

20 years has flown by and my wonderful wife is more beautiful than ever. I hope she enjoys the gift and day I have planned for us.

UPDATE: Sale is over, thanks everyone! I decided to keep the BlackBerry PlayBook. I did write a book about it and since I bought one three times I obviously like it. I may have a sale later in the year as I accumulate more gear and it starts to collect dust.

I purchase mobile gear to evaluate when I can’t get temporary evaluation units or I like a product so much that I go out and buy it after testing. Thus, I end up with lots of things that I sell or give away. I currently have way too much gear in my cabinets and drawers and since I want to pick up the upcoming new Nokia Lumia 925 and just bought an HTC One, I have the items listed below for sale.

I checked ebay and made sure that all of my prices are below the lowest typical selling price so I am trying to get this gear into a new home without making any profit. I am actually losing hundreds on devices like the Lumia 920 and Galaxy Note II, but I understand the market and just need to move these items out of my hands. My loss is your win.

All of this gear is in mint, like-new condition (I take extremely good care of my gear), with the exception of the Lumia 900, Lumia 710, and HTC Radar 4G. These items all work just fine, but there are some fine usage scratches on the casing material since these were used by my wife and oldest daughter for a bit. If you look, they are cheap though too. Some photos are found below the list.

I have the original boxes for everything, but there are not cables and A/C adapters for all the phones. If there is no cable, it is a product that charges via typical microUSB so you may have these cables lying around already.

Shipping is included for all items within the US. Email me to discuss other countries as that may be a possibility.

I prefer PayPal so contact me at palmsoloATgmailDOTcom to discuss any you are interested in. As you can see for some I am really just asking for shipping and the hassle to ship the item with no real reimbursement.

Nokia BH-905i Bluetooth headphones: This is a pretty amazing pair of headphones that comes with a nice carrying case, charger, and adapters. I am more of an earbuds fan so am clearing these out of my inventory. Price is $75

Nokia Lumia 900: This is the white Nokia Lumia 900 that launched on AT&T. It has been SIM unlocked and is upgraded to Windows Phone 7.8. Price is $85.

Nokia Lumia 710: This is a low price T-Mobile Windows Phone. It comes with black and cyan back covers. Price is $30.

HTC Radar 4G: Another low priced T-Mobile Windows Phone. It has a metal body and a few body scratches. Price is $30.

Nokia Lumia 920: (LOTS of pending interest) Another of my high end devices in perfect condition. This is the red Lumia 920 that was launched on AT&T, but I have it SIM unlocked so you can use it with T-Mobile or around the world. I am including a black shell cover that I have to make it a bit less slick in the hand. It comes with a Nokia A/C adapter. Price is $250.

Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch: This was one of my first touchscreen eInk devices and it is awesome. Unlike many others, it has physical side buttons to help you turn pages. Another questionable devices to get rid of, but I have too many. Selling for $30.

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note II: This one is tough to let go and I awarded it my top pick a couple of times over the past several months. It is in MINT condition and comes with the mint green and orange Samsung flip covers, a case that props it up for movie viewing, and an Android Central Lloyd cover. There are unused headphones and all cables with this bad boy. I am willing to part with it for just $375 (I paid more than $700 for it in October).

Beats Pill speaker: I picked up this black Beats Pill for $199 and planned to use it more in the office. I found I don’t really listen to music at the office so need to sell it. It comes in the original box with everything, including the case. Price is just $125.

Jawbone Jambox: This is one of my favorite portable speakers, but I bought two Nokia Play 360s and use them at home instead. This is a mint black small Jambox and comes with everything in the original box. Price is $75.

Samsung Allshare Cast Wireless Hub: If you own a Samsung smartphone or tablet then this is one slick accessory that I paid $100 for. You can use it to watch movies on your TV or view photos/videos you captured from your phone to your TV. It’s great to take along to the grandparents and even includes an HDMI cable. As I get rid of my Note II, I don’t need it so am selling it for half that. Price is just $50.

Kobo eReader Touch: This is one of my favorite all-time eInk devices, but I have now gone all in with the Kindle. You can read ebooks from Kobo or any other EPUB format as it is an open platform device. The store has most of the same books as Amazon and the eReader has one of the best in-hand experiences ever. Price is just $25.

If you are interested in any of these items, please email me at palmsoloATgmailDOTcom to discuss. I’ll try to keep this post updated with the sale status.

I like to write, shoot it is my 2nd job at ZDNet, and if you ask family and friends I can generally express myself better with the written word. I have a lot of thoughts spinning in my head as we reach the end of the high school basketball season and find I can clear things if I put them down in “ink”.

You may have read the title above and thought that I was going to talk about Michael Jordan (he just turned 50 BTW), Carl Lewis, Jim Thorpe, Joe Montana, or some other current or former athlete. They were all fantastic athletes, but my personal favorite is Maloree Amanda Miller.

I played 10 years of football (including four in college), 10+ years of rugby, and many other sports over my 44 years and I have seen a lot of athletes. There are many things that can make an athlete great, but in my opinion it goes way beyond athletic ability and that is what Mal has in her.

Mal has been blessed with natural athletic ability and a competitive nature that drives her desire to compete. She is not the biggest athlete, but has speed, strength, and a nearly neverending endurance to go the distance. She is the most coachable athlete anyone can be blessed with on her team as she ALWAYS listens intently to the coach (watch her in a timeout or on the sidelines) and then carries out those assignments like a good soldier following the general’s orders. She never shows ANY disrespect to coaches, her teammates, the fans, or even the opposition. You will see athletes get fired up and then get nasty, but no matter what the opponent does to Mal she gets right back up and takes care of business without letting the other team in her head.

I too am competitive and sometimes am driven mad by coaches and refs, but Mal just smiles and rolls on. I wish I had her patience, love, and complete forgiveness and am blessed she has an influence on me.
Mal is the most unselfish player you will find and teammates are blessed to have her on their teams. She prefers to pass the soccer ball and basketball rather than take the shot (sometimes to my sheer frustration) to give the credit to her teammates. She watches opponents like a hawk and steals the ball like a fox and then dishes it off to teammates to score. I would love to see her current stats, but swear Mal is in on more rebounds than anyone as she always follows shots on the basket or soccer goal and knows where the ball is going to be.

My only advice to her is to speak up a bit more and try to funnel this behavior into verbal encouragement to help make her team better too. You will not see or hear Mal boasting of her stats or giving herself any credit, even if she clearly deserves it. She is the epitome of the team player and my prayer for her is that a college sees this and rewards Mal with the opportunity to play at the college level.

Mal has also been blessed with the ability to recover quickly from injuries. You won’t see Mal come out of a game or practice unless its serious and over the last couple of years I have seen her make some miraculous recoveries when I know others would be down and out on the bench. She is truly an inspiration for young athletes and girls looking to play sports and succeed in life.
She is also not affected by the moment and shoots free throws as calmly at the end of the game when a win is on the line as she does early in a game where they are blowing someone out. She just recently made two straight free throws to win a playoff game and looked as cool as ice at the free throw line. She doesn’t get stressed on the field or court, which is awesome since a coach can count on her to keep her head in the game and get the job done in any situation.

I improved beyond my imagination when I played football and rugby in college with coaches that were specialists in their trade and focused on a small number of athletes in their care. I look forward to seeing Mal take it to the next level in college and watching her grow and develop as a player and a person.

Jesus has blessed Mal with athletic ability and an unselfish heart and she has modeled her behavior after Him, even in the highly competitive world of sports. I pray that He continues to bless her, protect her, and provide her with the opportunity to enjoy sports all of her life. Come on out and watch my favorite athlete on the field or the court, you will be happy you shared in the experience.

I used to post here quite a bit, but have been focusing on my extremely successful ZDNet blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and my “normal” day job. Given that I carry such powerful mobile devices with WordPress authoring tools, I think I will start to post here more often. I know there are only a few people that visit this blog, but it is more of my way to post random musings and thoughts outside of the mobile tech world.